After four months of testing in Motown, the long-term Toyota Camry is returning to Southern California.
Tuesday night I took the red-eye from LA to Detroit to claim the car from Detroit editor Dan Pund. After a day spent visiting family and friends, I was ready to roll.
Early Thursday morning I climbed into the Camry, started the engine and settled into the soft seat for the roughly 2,500 miles of interstate looming ahead...
Once on the interstate, I noticed the Camry was pulling a little to the left. At the first pit stop, I double-checked all of the tires and found them to be properly inflated. The handling isn't terrible, just noticeable. Could be a result of Dan's prior accident?
A few quick cabin observations: The cup holders are conveniently placed and when crammed with water bottles don’t obstruct my arm from resting on the center console. I was disappointed, however, by the un-Toyota-like alignment of the center strut on the dash. It’s noticeably misaligned.
Now four states, a numbing number of so-called ‘80s “hits,†and 820 miles have passed and I'm ready to call it a night in York, Nebraska. I’ll see if a cool night in the Cornhusker state causes the dash rattle to return in the morning.
State Police Sightings:
Michigan – 2 (190 miles)
Indiana – 1 (45 miles)
Illinois – 8 (180 miles)
Iowa – 2 (297 miles)
This makes Iowa the driver’s choice, so far – one state police officer sighted every 148.5 miles. Illinois clocks in with a trooper every 22.5 miles.
Barry Toepke, Driver for Hire at 13,559 miles
alpha01 says:
10:21 AM, 05/ 4/07
I wonder if that particlar photo shows a flaw in the actual design. Every Camry of this vintage that I have drive shows exactly the same fit (or lack thereof). Heck, go to a Toyota lot, and you'll find that the upper and lower Camry dashes meet at this juncture in this way every time, I'll bet. So I wonder if its an issue of fit/finish, or just one of ridiculous/poor design.
~alpha
2002blksle says:
12:50 PM, 05/ 4/07
Berry- You nailed the same two issues I have/had w. My camry-
1) Same dash alignment issue (easy fix.. not sure why they keep producing them with this design/manufacturing misalignment. it's too easy to focus on it and not all the good found in the interior design.
2) Cold dash rattle expected to be found in an 1982 escort. There is a TSB on the dash rattle and they fixed mine in 4 hours no questions asked. It required removing the dash and installing a new kit of some sort. The cockpit has been silent since it's repair in January . Ask about it @ the next service.
bimmerjay says:
01:15 PM, 05/ 4/07
The problem with a dash pull is that the dealer can almost never put it back together as tightly as it was from the factory. Initially it's ok, but as the miles roll by little creaks and squeaks make their way out. I cringe at the very thought!
Whether the misalignment is a design or manufacturing issue it's definitely not in line with Toyota's rep. I think it was Erin who also pointed out the poor fit of the trim pieces for the steering wheel controls. What gives?
jerrywimer says:
08:20 AM, 05/ 7/07
I'm with bimmerjay on this- I cringe at the thought of letting the dealerships tear my vehicle apart to fix something. For something like the squeak and this trim issue, even if they claim there's a fix I'd normally live with it unless it's *that* annoying. I've found that it's usually easy to tell when a vehicle has been "fixed" in such a manner, from the damage from tools to the edges of some panels to the fact that the panels seem to work themselves out of alignment (worse than they may've started out) much earlier in the life of the vehicle to increased noise over the life of the vehicle..
Service departments tend to be used only for mechanical stuff for me. :-P